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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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THE
BLOCKHEADS
Ronnie Scott's, London - Sunday 20th February 2005 |
|  Ian
Dury (1942 - 2000)
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by
Nick Morgan
Kate
said, “You know I think this might be
a bit sad”, having last seen the
Blockheads with their late and
much lamented front man at the Bush shortly
before he died. But how could it be? In a packed
Ronnie Scott’s, on a tiny and equally
packed stage, the Blockheads led a devoted audience
through a Sunday celebratory service, and in
an act of virtual transubstantiation the presence
of a benign Ian Dury was conjured up amongst
us to enjoy the playing of the band without
whom he would have remained somewhere up the
Kilburn High Road, doing a little bit of this,
and a little bit of that.
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Blockheads, minus the deceased Charley Charles and
the departed Davey Payne, appear at first sight
to be something of a late middle aged, badly dressed,
shambles, maybe a not so posh pub band from Burnham
on Crouch. But under the direction of musical auteur
Chaz Jankel, in reality the man who was at least
fifty per cent of Dury’s talent (although
as his social-worker demeanour suggested, without
any of his fierce charisma), they play like a band
possessed, as if the end of the world’s longest
pier at Southend of Sea had somehow managed to reach
out to New Orleans. |
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Jankel carefully orchestrating every move from
his piano stool (or front stage on guitar) the
band deliver some virtuoso performances. Norman
Roy Watt, who looks and moves like Charles Dickens’
Quilp from The Old Curiosity Shop, is simply sensational
on bass, and turns in a fair vocal as he works
through Billericay Dickie (if you can’t
catch Norman with the Blockheads then he’s
always around playing with Wilko Johnson). Drummer
Dylan Howe sounds as though his surname should
be Neville Brothers. Mickey Gallagher plays his
Hammond B3 faultlessly, with barely a smile. Gilad
Atzmon (boy – what a weird website,
don’t you think Serge?) plays funkadelic
sax, and the still-alive Johnny Turnbull played
some great guitar and also sang gamely on some
of the hits (opening number, ‘Rhythm Stick’)
and on songs from the Blockheads’ 2003 CD
Where’s the Party. Oh yes, and Derek “the
draw” Hussey, looking like a well spaced
out Viv Stanshall added percussion, a little bit
of Cockney rap, and his own quite decent song,
‘Spread it’.
The
set was divided nicely between a very respectfully
chosen selection of classics (excluding Ian’s
most personal songs) and Where’s the Party;
but the rhythm, the outrageous humour of some
of Dury’s lyrics (“a seasoned up hyena
couldn’t have been obscener”) and
the palpable enjoyment of the band were infectious.
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And
if the Blockhead’s newer offerings sound a
bit stale on vinyl (or whatever it is that CDs are
made of) then they’ve lost nothing on stage,
apart from one of the greatest characters of late
70’s English rock and roll. But nonetheless
Serge these boys were very alive and very Blockhead.
C’est si bon, c’est fantastique. Je
t’adore, ich liebe dich.
Editor’s Note: The Blockheads logo is the
Trade Mark of Blockheads Limited. Beware of fakes
and imitations. - Nick Morgan |
Check
the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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There's nothing more down there... |
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